Way back at the dawn of time—or at least before Facebook—people usually told friends and loved ones of their travels and adventures through postcards. These are usually pictures of scenic vistas or typical scenes of tourist spots. Notes are jotted on the back, they're addressed, and for the price of a stamp, are sent from anywhere, to anywhere. In this day of instant digital photo sharing, sending a postcard is becoming a lost art. We'll do our part and show you how to do it—and next time you're someplace really great, send us a postcard!

Steps

Sample Postcards

Part 1

Writing Your Postcard

1

Buy a postcard. Any great correspondence starts with something to write on. For the tourist "wish you were here" types of postcards, every gift shop at every resort everywhere in the world will have postcards.

Whether you're at Mt. Everest in Nepal or Thunder Mountain at Disney World, you'll find professionally-shot postcards that look great and will make your friends drool with envy.

Why wait? Sometimes you see a postcard that you just know will make somebody laugh. Get it!

Make a sport of it. Like the gnome in the French film Amelie, or the man who had a squirrel invade his home, sending postcards can be a game. There was a fellow who had a squirrel invade his house one summer. After two weeks of trying to catch it, he finally succeeded. He drove 20 miles (32 km) out of town, and released the squirrel. A few days later, he received a postcard from one "Mr. Fuzzy." Then another, then another, as the intrepid Mr. Fuzzy traveled the country. Several friends jumped into the game, and by fall he had received postcards from major cities around the world. You too can create your own “Mr. Fuzzy.” Make up an alias for yourself and send a friend or child postcards from all over, signed by your alias.

2

Get to know your postcard. Now that you have your prized possession in your hands, it's time to work on the details. A postcard's format is very straightforward.

Flip the postcard photo side down. The top right corner is generally where the stamp goes (there should be a box in the corner that is perfectly stamp-sized).

Postcards are usually split up so that the right side of the card has lines for you to write out the address you want the card to be sent to. On the left there should be a blank space in which you can write a message, doodle, or create a riddle that will lead the recipient on a cross-country scavenger hunt.

3

Put the date in the upper right of the note area. This is optional but will give your recipient an idea of when you sent the postcard (and can also be a little experiment to see how long a postcard takes to get from Canberra, Australia to San Francisco, USA). You might be surprised at how long or short the postcard’s travel time is.

4

Decide who you are sending the postcard to. Begin by addressing the person (or people) you are sending it to. A simple, “Dear John,” would work, but you can get as creative as you like. Try something like “To the man who once wore a 10 gallon (37.9 L) hat to an ice cream parlor” or “My dearest, Most darling, beloved Aunt Nancy.”

5

Write your message. The first rule of postcard writing is, there are no rules. Write as much or as little as you like. Don’t write at all but instead draw a picture depicting your favorite moment of your trip thus far. It really is up to you. Some people choose to write as much as possible, filling up the text area, then writing along the bottom, up the right hand side, upside down along the top, and on down the left side. Go wild so long as there is space to write your recipient’s address. Here are some ideas about what to write about:

Give your recipient an account of your favorite moment of the trip so far. Something along the lines of: Though this whole trip to Panama has been amazing, yesterday something happened that was truly crazy. I discovered I have a sloth sense. The girls and I trekked through the jungle to find this beautiful hidden beach, and on the way I spotted four different sloths. Each time one was near, I would stop walking and announce that there was a sloth around. I would look up, and sure enough, a sloth! Right above me!

Another idea is to give an account of a weird food you have tried: You won't believe this but two days ago I tried kangaroo tail, crocodile meat, and a green ant, all in the same day! The kangaroo tail was a bit greasy but the Crocodile tasted like--you guessed it!--chicken. But most surprising of all, the green ant tasted like a sour grape! The land down under sure is an interesting place!

You might consider closing with something like, “hope all is well” or “You would love it here!” so that your recipient doesn’t die of envy.

6

Sign your card. Since formality is not a requirement for postcards, say goodbye like you were talking to them. When was the last time you said "sincerely yours" to somebody, face to face? Instead, there are the old standbys: "Wish you were here!" "See you soon!" "LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!" Or, you can sign off in a personalized way. Examples are “Love, your wandering granddaughter” or “Signed, a broad abroad” or something pun-y like that.

Part 2

Addressing Your Postcard

1

Write the address on the right side of the card. Some cards will also have lines for you to write the address on. Write the recipient’s name(s) followed by their address (House or apartment number, street name, town, city, country, zip code.)

Don’t forget to add the country name! While you may not have to do that when sending snail mail within your own country, you will have to do that when you’re abroad!

2

Lick it or stick it. Before you can make the recipient green with jealousy (or red with embarrassment, if you are in Brazil and sending one of those kinds of postcards), you will need to put a stamp on it—up in the right hand corner. Make sure you put the right amount of postage to get it to its destination, find a post office station, and drop that little slice of cardboard love in the mail.

If you’re not sure how much postage it will take to get the postcard from one place to another, duck into the nearest post office and find out. Make sure to purchase international postage if its required.

No, because the address and stamp are already on the postcard. The main reason people use envelops when mailing cards and letters is so that they will have some place to put the stamp and write the address.

If while writing the left side of the postcard is finished, then can I continue writing on right side?

wikiHow Contributor

You must not crowd the space where the address is, but you can write on the right hand side making sure that the address is left very evident. Just don't cover the stamp with writing or the address area.

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Tips

Make sure you know the person's address before you start writing the message or you could waste a lot of time. If you just can't remember, send it to yourself, and hand-deliver it next time you see them.